Rays Winter Leagues Recap: Your Dose of Thanksgiving Baseball

What does it say about me that I missed the Winter Leagues recap yesterday but did it today? In any event, Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and I’m glad to give you some Thanksgiving baseball to talk about before your football-filled day.

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Dominican Winter League: Aguilas Cibaenas 5, Toros del Este 3

What would Thanksgiving be without Manny Ramirez? Manny went 1 for 3 with a pair of walks for the Aguilas, continuing a strong season that has him at a .302/.404/.495 line. Derek Dietrich didn’t have as much luck for Cibaenas, going 0 for 3 with a walk and a run scored. Interestingly enough, Dietrich has a .263 average and a .423 OBP through 6 DWL games, but his signature power has been missing entirely.

On the Este side, Allan Dykstra went 1 for 4 with an RBI. His average also happened to be at .263 to finish the game. It’s a Thanksgiving miracle! (Nope, not really.) In any event, Dykstra has a 3-game hitting streak going as he hopes to build momentum entering his first season in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.

Mexican Pacific League: Estrellas de Oriente 9, Leones del Escogido 0

Wednesday marked Freddy Guzman‘s 10th game of the season for the Leones, but just the first time that he had actually gotten a start. Guzman had something to be thankful for and took advantage by going 1 for 2 with a pair of walks. He also may have racked up a steal or two had this game not gotten out of hand so quickly.

In less optimistic news, Enny Romero struggled as he finished the game, allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, on 3 hits in an inning of work. He still has a 10.38 ERA, and we’re talking 10 appearances and 8.2 innings pitched now. That’s still a small sample size, but Romero should still have turned himself around by this point. The Rays have to be wondering what has happened to their hard-throwing lefty and hoping that better results are on the way for him.

Caneros de los Mochis 3, Venados de Mazatlán 2

Thanksgiving baseball proved to be no match for Olmo Rosario as he continued his incredible hot streak. He went 2 for 4 with a double for the Venados and now has a 6-game hitting streak, 3 straight multi-hit games, and a .417/.488/.667 line in his last 10 games overall. In that last stretch, he has 6 doubles, a homer, 4 RBI, and 6 walks against just 1 strikeout. Did Mazatlán have any idea that Rosario could play like this?

Justin Christian also got into this game for the victorious Caneros, going 1 for 1 with a walk, a run scored, and a pair of sacrifice bunts. Like the bunts or not, he extended his hitting streak to 9, and he has a strong .324/.390/.405 line in that span. Christian is slowly recovering from his rough stretch to begin the season, and he may have finally broken through.

Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League: Senadores de San Juan 8, Gigantes de Carolina 4

A trio of American Rays-related players appeared in this game for the two teams, and you have to wonder what Thanksgiving is like for them this year. It’s probably better from this perspective to be in Puerto Rico (technically part of the US, of course) rather than the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, but it still much be strange for Cameron Seitzer, Jim Patterson, and Shane Dyer to be away from home. The hope is, though, that the opportunity to keep playing baseball now makes up for what they have lost and that the cultural experience provides them with something as well.

In this game, Seitzer delivered a strong performance, going 1 for 3 with a double and 2 RBI. Seitzer has had an up-and-down Winter Ball so far, with his last of plate discipline (20-6 strikeout to walk ratio) especially surprising. Maybe a game like this ahead of a day off tomorrow was exactly he needed.

The other Rays prospect on the Gigantes also played well. Patterson tossed 2 shutout innings allowing just a hit, striking out 2 while walking none and forcing a 3-1 groundout to flyout ratio. Since allowing a run in 4 of his first 5 appearances, Patterson has now tossed scoreless ball in his last 3 games.

Finally, Shane Dyer had his first poor appearance for the Senadores, allowing 2 runs in an inning of work. It was against Dyer that Seitzer delivered his RBI double.